According
to TheNation, there was suspicion last night that the cash may have been wired
into some
foreign accounts, but the government has filed an ex parte motion to place it under temporary assets forfeiture.
A telecommunications company has gone to court, claiming ownership of the money.
A whistle-blower alerted the government to strange deposits into the ECOBANK account by some suspected government officials.
Of the many deposits, about N8.4billion was singled out for investigation in the interim.
A source involved in the investigation said:
foreign accounts, but the government has filed an ex parte motion to place it under temporary assets forfeiture.
A telecommunications company has gone to court, claiming ownership of the money.
A whistle-blower alerted the government to strange deposits into the ECOBANK account by some suspected government officials.
Of the many deposits, about N8.4billion was singled out for investigation in the interim.
A source involved in the investigation said:
“A whistle-blower
alerted the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, leading to the
involvement of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit and the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission( EFCC) in the investigation.
“The probe of the
account by detectives showed that the funds were routed through the account of
a telecoms giant but there was no disclosure of the signatories to the account.
“Also, the list of
depositors into the account was unknown but the sequence of deposits was
tracked by detectives.”
The
source confirmed that an ex -parte application had been filed at the Federal
High Court 11 in Lagos, presided over by Justice Abdulazeez Anka, to recover
the cash under temporary forfeiture.
The matter is coming up on March 3 for hearing.
The Federal Government has hired two lawyers, Mr. John Samuel Opeyemi and Mr. Oluwafemi O. Aweda, to recover the funds.
Another source also privy to the investigation said the probe so far indicated that the cash paid into the account could be over N10billlion.
The source added:
The matter is coming up on March 3 for hearing.
The Federal Government has hired two lawyers, Mr. John Samuel Opeyemi and Mr. Oluwafemi O. Aweda, to recover the funds.
Another source also privy to the investigation said the probe so far indicated that the cash paid into the account could be over N10billlion.
The source added:
“Detectives stumbled on
separate deposit of N5billion and N4billion. But investigation is at present
concentrated on the recovery of N8.4billion, which was changed to dollars and
probably wired into some accounts abroad.
“A telecommunications
giant has approached the court to claim the ownership of the cash.
“We have been demanding
for the list of signatories to this account but it is yet to be provided.
The Nation
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